City Manager Jeff Baxley announced at the regular council meeting held Tuesday, March 26 that Zaxby’s Restaurant is coming to Baxley and is going to be located out Highway 341 in the Wal-Mart area. He also reported that Tractor Supply should be open around May 1. Stanley Farms now owns Pet Dairy Farm out on Highway 203 and has committed to Appling County for a new industry. He also reported that High Tech, a sawmill equipment business, would be expanding to make pellet equipment and hopefully create seven new positions.

Special presentations

The Appling County Comprehensive High School Quartet performed two inspirational songs at the city council meeting. Commissioner Darryl Edwards gave a prayer of invocation.

Caroline Rentz, Callie Mercier, Coleman O’Quinn and Tessa Hayes are the “If I Were Mayor” essay contest winners and were recognized at the council meeting. They read their winning essays before the mayor and council.

Aileen Thomas, Mary Nell Alderman and Angie Carter on behalf of the American Cancer Society handed out pamphlets and information concerning the Relay For Life events to be held on May 3 at the track at Appling County High School.

New business

Mayor Steve Rigdon and the council reviewed the criteria for evaluation and proposals received from the following list for administration and engineering services that were received for the Community Development Block Grant.

Administration Proposals were from ALGA, Inc. of Alma and Bob Roberson & Associates of Macon.

Engineering Proposals were from Hofstadter and Associates of Macon, Parker Engineering, LLC of Statesboro and EMC Engineering Services of Savannah.

A motion was made by Councilwoman Betty Livingston, seconded by Councilman Mickey Bass and carried unanimously to accept Hofstadter and Associates, as engineer, and ALGA, Inc., as grant administrator, based on this review.

Councilman Mickey Bass made a motion to adopt a resolution and authorize Mayor Rigdon to execute documents pertaining to the authorization to accept GDOT contract for costs associated with installation of AWOS, Land Acquisition Services and Design for Approach Clearing at the Baxley Municipal Airport. This motion was seconded by Councilman Tim Varnadore and was unanimously approved.

Mayor Steve Rigdon stated that he has had several complaints concerning flea market/yard sales in the city. He reported that one flea market/yard sale is operating in a storage building and it was reported that new and used items are being sold at many of these sites. Mayor Rigdon and the council agreed for the City Manager Jeff Baxley and City Attorney Alex Johnson to check with other cities on how they handle flea market/yard sales and draw up a proposal for consideration at the next regular meeting.

Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Esco Hall, Jr. stated he attended the NLC Conference in Washington, D.C. and he also reported that he has been appointed to the Board of Education – interview committee.

City manager reports

Jeff Baxley reported that a joint meeting with Appling County Commissioners is set for May 7 at 5:30 p.m. to appoint two members to the Hospital Authority Board. He reported the replacing of the storm pipe that collapsed at Ben Carter and MLK is almost complete and again expressed thanks to the County for letting them use their excavator and operator to get the job done. Baxley stated the landscaping at the airport is almost finished and hoping to get some nice signage done. He reported the city auctioned off four old police cars for a total amount of $3,028.29.
Chief James Godfrey report

Chief Godfrey reported that they have made five arrests, which will clear up several burglaries in our area. He also stated that they have sold the remaining five gambling machines that were confiscated in a case several years ago for $1,000.00. Also, the police department has sold confiscated guns for an amount of $2,151.00.

E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above:

Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Submitted comments will be subject to moderation before being displayed.